Online PlayGran Turismo 5 will mark the series' first foray into the online world, allowing gamers around the globe to connect and race with each other. While offline play should support fields of 16 vehicles, online play is likely to max out at 12. These numbers are the likely player counts, though the final numbers will be determined as Polyphony polishes the game as it approaches release.

Full voice options will be present. The game will give players the option of either having voice chats on during races or to turn them off and partake in a more realistic competition. It sounds like this option will be set by the server type rather than on a player-by-player basis.

Polyphony plans to offer plenty of integration with PlayStation Home, though it's unclear as to what extent this will work. We can assume that you'll be able to park a car from the game in a virtual garage, though this is pure speculation. We do know that the game will allow you to go directly from the game to Home and back again, tying the two together as closely as possible.

My Page will be your starting spot.

My Page Perhaps the most unique aspect of online play will come in the form of My Page, a personalized starting spot that is said to be similar in vein to a MySpace page. Players will be able to customize their profile, which will reflect their location by showing actual buildings and current weather conditions on their page. Friends list integration should play into My Page as well.

While My Page will tie into the online portion of the game, it'll also act as your main hub for the standard GT single-player mode. Here, you'll find a number of icons including Garage, TV, Album, Options, Profile, Home and Calendar. The Event Calendar will show you a list of upcoming races that you can partake in, while TV should house saved replays.

In-Car View Another first for the series will be the inclusion of an in-car view, replete with accurate representations of each vehicle's steering wheel, dashboard, instrumentation and more. Engine sounds will be different while racing from this view to accurately model what the vehicles would sound like while sitting in the driver's seat.

The rearview and side-view mirrors will all be fully functional, allowing you to accurately tell whether cars are at your side or tailpipe. You'll be able to look out of the side and rear windows by using the D-Pad should the mirrors not quite suffice.

The in-car view will be a very welcome addition to the series.

Visuals Just as past games in the series have pushed the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 to their limits, Gran Turismo 5 should be a system showpiece for the PlayStation 3. The pre-race screen shows your car being worked on by your pit crew in a garage, and these scenes will feature full HDR, ray-traced lighting. These scenes are stunning and easily rival anything pre-rendered footage could throw at the screen.

While the in-race lighting won't be quite as nice, expect this to be the best looking racing game you've ever seen. The studio promises 1080p support at a full 60fps, though it says that feat isn't easy. But if anyone can do it, it's Polyphony Digital.